Fans are already aware of Stephen King’s dislike for Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining as he felt it did not capture the emotional investment found in the book. So when Mike Flanagan got the opportunity to helm the sequel, Doctor Sleep, he was tasked with the impossible: to reconcile Kubrick’s and King’s visions.
It’s incredible how Flanagan managed to pay homage to the original movie while also getting the approval of King. That is exactly a talent we don’t come across every day, yet somehow, he proved that he’s not only a master in the horror genre but also a versatile filmmaker.
Mike Flanagan on the challenge of making Doctor Sleep
Mike Flanagan spoke with GQ Magazine and talked about what Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining meant to him. He was in fifth grade when he first watched the movie, and we know that’s too young to be watching something that involved a lot of violent content and bloody images. As expected, he was traumatized, although not enough to shun it for life.
He started studying the works of Kubrick later in his life, particularly this 1980 film. He used it as a guide in his journey to making horror movies, and it was here he revealed that he only read Stephen King’s book years after he had seen The Shining.
Evidently, he figured out the differences between Kubrick’s and King’s works, but he admitted to loving them both. Flanagan was kind of hurt when he found out that the writer hated the movie. “To hear him talk about the film that way was really tough for me to reconcile in my own head,” he confessed.
When Doctor Sleep was published, he immediately grabbed his copy and was surprised by his own experience reading King’s words while visualizing Kubrick’s images.
I had this very weird experience where I’m reading this quintessentially Stephen King story that I love. It’s all about recovery and responsibility and so many beautiful things, but all the images in my head while I read the book were Kubrick, and that was such a weird tug of war for me.
Flanagan spent years trying to book the job that many thought was impossible, and we’re glad he did not give up.
Why Stephen King was dismayed with Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining
King had publicly disclosed his dislike for Kubrick’s The Shining, as well as his satisfaction with Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep. It’s understandable why the writer was so frustrated with the film. He wanted to see the redemption arc and the emotional investment on family—both elements that were very important for King due to his past troubles.
There was a script that King had written, but Kubrick refused to read it and instead went on with his own version. As Flanagan pointed out in one of his interviews, he understood that the late director was more interested in the concept of madness than salvation.
The Shining and Doctor Sleep are currently available to watch on Max.
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